The localities with the lowest infection rates are green; the highest in black or gray. Courtesy of The Daily Yonder.

Covid rates continue to fall across most of Virginia, so much so that most of the state is now in the “green zone” or lowest infection category, according to federal data analyzed by The Daily Yonder, a website covering rural issues.

For the week ending March 12, only two localities show up in the “black zone” or highest category. That’s a sharp contrast from late January when all of Virginia was in the black zone. Those two counties are:

  1. Brunswick County 856.4, up from 67.8
  2. Madison County 625.9, down from 686.2
  3. Covington 595.9, up from 72.2.

Most of the counties in the next tier down, the “red zone,” are in Southwest or Southside. However, many other localities in Southwest and Southside now show up green as well. Covington illustrates how changeable statistics can be; for several weeks recently it recorded no cases.

At least one locality recorded no covid cases for the week ending March 12 — Northumberland County. You can look up the data for every locality in the country on The Daily Yonder’s interactive map.